Alternate Reality: Reaped
by Celeste5502
Summary: A dangerous criminal called the Reaper, stealer of souls and controller of empty bodies, has escaped into the world of our heroes, who must stop him from using his power on others in their place-and overcome one soul problem that comes up along the way...
1. Prologue: Escape

Prologue: Escape

It was nighttime in the Dimension of the Gods. The full moon brought an eerie light down upon a rather depressing, grey building on the far outskirts of Kingrah. The place was called the Bastet Prison, established by his majesty King Spencer as a 'home' for the toughest and most destructive of criminals in his world, mainly as a future place for former king Resheph who had a cell put aside especially for him. The three-level place was made with completely impenetrable stone walls that not even one with the strongest form of super strength would be able to break through. Inside of the place was rows and rows of cells for each individual criminal, protected with barred doors that could neither be bent nor phased through due to an invisible magical barrier in the center of the door, created by the king himself and only able to be taken down by either him or the guards of the place. Tough, burly prison guards regularly patrolled the halls, and vicious guard Cerberuses scared the prisoners into staying inside their 'homes' by occasionally snarling and snapping their three sets of teeth at them. Outside, the place was surrounded with another impenetrable stone wall which had another magical barrier placed right in front of it. With such great protection, Bastet Prison had become widely renowned for not having a single soul break out for thousands of years.

That, however, was about to change.

As one of the guards walked down one hallway of cells, he shone his flashlight inside each of them, making sure that the criminals in their black and white striped clothing were still right where they were supposed to be: sleeping on the cots, with only very ratty blankets giving them some sort of cover.

When he came down to the very last cell, he shone his flashlight inside-and froze.

There was nobody on the cot.

He quickly shone his light around the rest of the tiny cell, but he couldn't find the designated criminal anywhere within. Thinking perhaps the man or woman had made him- or herself invisible through a special power of theirs, he quickly picked up a ring filled with large metal keys looped around his belt, chose one key in particular, and used it to unlock the cell door.

As he slid the door open, he put his flashlight and key ring into his pocket and held out his freed hand towards the cell, creating a force field right behind where the door had been so that the hiding criminal couldn't simply dart out of the place.

Slowly, he walked through his force field and glanced around, letting his hand glow with blue magic just in case it would be needed.

While he looked around, a shadowy figure slowly rose up through the floor behind him. The person was completely covered in a long black cloak with a hood, letting nothing show except his hands, which were pure skeleton bones.

The creature rose one of his bony hands into the air. A vicious scythe with a razor-sharp blade appeared before it which the guy clutched firmly.

In one quick movement, he brought the scythe down to the guard's back. The guard let out a scream of horror as a jagged line tracing the path the scythe had travelled glowed with a soft, white light.

The guard collapsed onto the floor, the glowing line lifting itself up and forming itself into a small white orb. The man in the black cloak picked up the orb and held it towards the hood of his cloak. With a disgusting sucking noise, the orb was pulled into the darkness of the hood and vanished.

The black-cloaked man looked down at the guard. In a hissing, raspy voice, he said, "Arise."

The guard slowly got to his feet and turned around. His eyes had turned a clear, milky white and a completely straight look devoid of any emotion whatsoever had come to his face. "What do you desire, master?" he asked.

"Let me out of here," 'Master' replied.

The guard turned towards the entryway to the cell and held out one hand to it. His force field and the magic barrier before it glowed with blue light, then vanished in entirety.

'Master' followed the guard as he led him out of the cell and down the hall towards the front door of the prison. A Cerberus came walking down the hallway and snarled angrily at the black-cloaked man, but the guard told it sharply, "Down, boy." The dog immediately stopped and sat down, allowing the guard and 'Master' to walk around it and continue towards the door.

Once they reached the heavy iron door, the guard took up his key ring again and used another metal key to open it. The two walked towards the stone wall and the guard held out a hand to it. Again, the barrier around the place glowed, then vanished.

"Thank you very much," 'Master' hissed out with delight. He floated up above the wall, his long black cloak flowing behind him, and started soaring towards the town of Kingrah, in search of some more souls which he could reap.

* * *

The next morning, King Spencer was still sleeping in his bed when his cell phone on his nightstand started to ring. Groaning, he reached over and grabbed the phone, flipping it open before it could ring once more. He held it up to his ear and murmured, "Hello?"

"Your majesty!" It was Eli, one of the chiefs of the Kingrah Police, and he sounded absolutely horrified. "Someone broke out of the Bastet Prison last night!"

Spencer bolted upwards in bed. "WHAT?!" he screamed. "IS THIS SOME KIND OF A JOKE?!"

"Unfortunately not, your highness," continued the female chief Liv on another line. "This morning we've found out that the criminal made use of one of the security guards to break out of the place. He kept the Cerberus from attacking, removed all of the magical barriers-all the perp had to do was float over the wall and he was free."

"I thought only Kingrah Police officers with the strongest powers and highest needs to maintain order and security in our world are allowed to work in the prison!"

"They are, your highness," Eli murmured. "But this guard wasn't acting of his own will."

Spencer paused. "What do you mean?"

"Sir, the guard's own soul was stolen away from him," Liv replied. "And once the guy had it, he was able to use the guard's body however he so pleased."

Spencer's eyes widened with horror. "You don't mean…" he whispered.

"Yes, sir," Eli said. "It was the work of The Reaper."

He couldn't even respond to that. He was too shell-shocked.

"And, sir, there's something else…" Liv continued. "After the reaper stole a few more souls from people around town, he came across a custom portal box which someone had that he apparently chose to use so that he could go to other worlds and find even more souls to reap. And based upon our custom portal tracker's readings…" She paused. "He apparently went to your friends' world."

That was enough for Spencer. He snapped his phone shut and slammed it back onto his nightstand. He jumped out of bed and snapped away his pajamas into a black sleeveless shirt, short blue cape, blue pants with blue boots on the bottom, and black belts with silver studs around his waist and neck. With another snap, he conjured up his own custom portal box, flung it to the ground, and zapped a gold spark into its opening. A portal appeared above it leading right to the abandoned warehouse where his friends liked to meet. He jumped through it in a flash and let the portal slam shut behind him.


	2. Chapter One: The Reaper

Chapter One: The Reaper

In the other world, the sun was shining brightly over the town of Domino. Yugi, Joey, Tristan, Téa, and Bakura were walking down the street, clad in their school uniforms and preparing themselves for another six hours of lectures and work before the weekend finally began.

Joey looked up at the sunny, clear blue sky and groaned. "Man, shouldn't dere be some sorta law against makin' us stay in borin' old school on a day like dis? It's practically summer out here!"

Téa took in a deep breath of the morning air. "It is really great out," she agreed.

"Maybe we should all get together and find some way to enjoy it after school," Yugi suggested.

"After school?" Joey groaned as they approached the school gates. "For all we know a big storm is gonna come up an make everyting all wet an disgusting by de time we get ta 'after school'. Man, what's de point of makin' us miss all a dis just ta do a bunch a borin' work which we won't hafta use for de rest of our lives?!"

"Simple, Wheeler," a cold voice commented from behind them. "Said work is able to help society distinguish the intellectuals from the mindless idiots such as yourself."

Joey whipped around and prepared to fire out a punch, but Tristan and Yugi quickly grabbed his arms and held him back. Seto Kaiba had just exited his limo and now slammed the door shut as he got onto the sidewalk, smiling nastily at Joey the entire time. The limo made a U-turn and drove back to Kaiba Corp until it'd have to pick him up after school.

"SHUT UP, RICH BOY!" Joey yelled angrily at him. "I AM NOT A COMPLETE IDIOT!"

Kaiba cocked one eyebrow. "Not complete? Has some part of you fallen off?"

Joey angrily kicked and squirmed to get out of his friend's grips as Kaiba walked around them, keeping an amused eye on Joey. "Stay, mutt. Be a good boy," he said.

"WHY YOU-"

"GUYS!"

The teenagers turned as Spencer dashed up behind them with a horrified look on his face. Once he caught up with them, he paused with his hands down on his knees to catch his breath. "Guys…" he gasped out, looking up and around at their faces. "Thank…the gods…you're…all right…"

"Spencer, what's wrong?" Yugi asked.

He stood straight up and replied, "We have a very, very big problem. An extremely dangerous criminal from our world has just been able to make his way into yours."

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "Oh, great-what insanity is coming for us this time?"

Spencer glared at him and replied, "The 'insanity' is known as The Reaper, mostly because his looks and abilities are similar to those of the mythological figure known as the Grim Reaper. He's always worn a long black cloak, which he's never taken off so absolutely no one knows what he truly looks like, and he carries around a scythe which has the power to steal away people's souls and turn their bodies into empty shells."

The teens' eyes widened. "You mean there's some magical murderer running around our town right now?!" Tristan cried out.

"Not quite," Spencer replied. "He doesn't exactly 'kill'; that's where he differs from the Grim Reaper. Instead of going to some world beyond this one, the souls are kept purely for himself. The bodies, then, become bound to him and follow whatever orders he puts before them. And also, he couldn't possibly be out at this moment. The only time his powers actually work are from midnight until dawn, when the majority of the dark and evil creatures in the world prefer to attack."

"So I'm assuming you would like us to assist you in capturing this man," Bakura said.

Spencer nodded. "You've got it. _Por favor_ meet me tonight in the Domino Square before midnight; normally we'd go to the warehouse, I know, but it'd probably be better if we were directly in town where the people The Reaper would love to reap are. And once midnight comes around, stay on your guard-you never know where he might strike next." He bowed to them, turned and went back down the street, calling out "Later, guys!" before he was gone.

As the others turned and started walking to the school's front doors, Joey groaned, "Great-first a great day is shot thanks ta school, and now a weekend night's rest is ruined thanks ta some weirdo who can steal people's souls. Dere's no other way dat tings could possibly get any worse dan dey are at dis moment."


	3. Chapter Two: Stolen Souls

Chapter Two: Stolen Souls

That night, the seven teen heroes along with Yugi's grandfather in his Prince Yuri form were standing in the middle of the Domino Square. Only half of a moon shone down on the town, bringing just a bit of illumination to the pitch black windows of stores which had closed up hours ago.

Yugi looked up at the gold-rimmed clock standing above the square. "Only two more minutes to midnight," he said.

Téa hugged herself and shivered. "This is so creepy," she said, looking around the place with fear in her eyes. "Any second now some Grim Reaper-like creature could come up right behind us and steal our souls before we could do a thing about it."

Spencer smiled reassuringly at her. "Don't worry, Téa," he smiled. "If we just make sure to watch each other's backs, I think we'll be fine."

"Hey, Spencer, don't just 'tink' dat!" Joey cried. He struck a victorious pose. "We're de heroes of our own world! Dere's notin' dat some evil creep could do so dat he could get past us!"

"Except throw you a steak and walk right past you as you're eating it," Kaiba replied.

Spencer grabbed Joey underneath his arms before he could charge at Kaiba. "SHUT UP, YA SPOILED RICH BRAT!" he yelled. "JUST CAUSE YOU'RE SOME BIG TIME C.E.O. DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN SAY STUFF LIKE DAT ABOUT ME!"

"Oh, you'd prefer a bone?" Kaiba said.

Before Joey could yell at him again, Spencer looked up at the square's clock and cried out, "One minute!"

Everyone quickly prepared for battle. Yugi's Millennium Puzzle glowed with gold light, and the Pharaoh appeared in his place. The heroes of that world glowed with blue, green, orange, pink, grey, and white light while Spencer and Yuri brought out their Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl staffs. All of them came together in a tight circle facing outwards and looked around the square with fear and determination in their eyes.

The clock's hand moved to midnight. No one even dared to breathe, expecting the Reaper to appear at any moment.

One second…five seconds…ten seconds…and nothing happened.

After one minute had passed, Yuri put down his staff and slowly stepped away from the circle. "Maybe the reaper didn't come here after all," he said. He looked back at Spencer and asked, "Didn't you complain back when I was still your child about custom portal trackers being wrong about where people have travelled before on occasion?"

"Well…" Spencer pressed his two index fingers together and clenched his teeth sheepishly. "There have been rare cases where that's happened in the past, but-"

At that moment, the black-cloaked Reaper floated up through the ground right behind Yuri, holding its scythe in one hand. It took its weapon up in both hands and raised it above the former prince, the blade glistening in the moonlight.

"GRANDPA, LOOK OUT!" Pharaoh screamed in horror, pointing behind Yuri.

Yuri turned around-just in time to see the Reaper bring the scythe down onto his back. He collapsed to the ground, a jagged white line glowing on his back where the scythe had gone. The light quickly came up off his back and formed itself into an orb which the Reaper grabbed and sucked up into his hood before anyone could do a thing about it.

Everyone stared down at Yuri's lifeless body in horror. "Uh…Gramps?" Joey called out fearfully. "Are you all right?"

The Reaper looked down at the body and spoke in a rasping voice, "Get up."

Yuri's body slowly got to its feet. The teens recoiled in horror when they saw his eyes had gone a clear, milky white and his face was completely devoid of emotion.

"Attack them."

"Yes, master," Yuri's body spoke. He pointed his staff out at the heroes.

Everyone quickly soared up into the air as a light blue beam of magic shot out of his staff and went flying straight towards them. It crashed into a store window behind them, sending shattered glass everywhere.

"Grandpa, don't do this!" Pharaoh called down to Yuri.

"Forget it, _chico_," Spencer murmured sadly. "That body down there is just a shell. No feelings, no memories, no heart-just a Reaper's completely obedient slave."

Yuri raised his staff up again and fired out another couple of magic beams at the teens. They quickly soared off in different directions, but the beams simply followed after them like homing missiles.

"Servant," Reaper said to Yuri, "help me get those teenagers so that I may reap them."

"Yes, master." Yuri's body and The Reaper soared up into the air and went off in different directions to find the others.

* * *

As Téa weaved between the various tall buildings, she stole a glance back and saw a beam of light blue magic still hot on her tail. She looked back in front of her and held out her hands, letting them glow with a pink light. She took a deep breath, whipped around, and fired out a pink beam of magic.

The pink beam collided head-on with the light blue one and the two of them blasted up into thin air. She heaved a sigh of relief. "That was close," she said.

A hand tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around-and a staff smashed down onto her head, knocking her out cold.

* * *

As Tristan soared between buildings, well aware that the beams were still behind him, he held out his hands and formed orange orbs of magic within them. He turned around and stretched out his arms directly into the beams, smashing up against them with the orbs and making them blast like little light blue fireworks.

Tristan pulled his arms back and let the orange orbs vanish. He pumped one fist into the air and cheered, "Score!"

At that moment, Bakura came soaring up from behind him. His eyes were focused on the blue beams after him, so he didn't notice that he was heading straight for Tristan.

The two collided in midair and went falling towards the ground. The beams of magic smashed into them, forcing them to go down even faster and sending them crashing head first into the street.

The Reaper appeared above them and floated down to their unconscious selves. It rose up its scythe and slashed it down through their stomachs, creating the jagged white lines which flew up into the air and formed into white orbs. The Reaper leaned forward and sucked both of them up into itself.

The Reaper looked down at the two reaped bodies and said, "Arise, my servants."

Tristan and Bakura's bodies got to their feet. Their eyes opened to reveal nothing but purely white emptiness.

"Are you quite ready to do my bidding?"

"Yes, master," the two replied in unison.

"Excellent," Reaper hissed.

Yuri soared down to him at that moment, clutching the limp body of Téa in his arms. "Another one for you, my master."

"Wonderful," Reaper replied. "Only four more to go."

* * *

Joey was soaring around, moving this way and that, when he turned and saw that the beams were no longer behind him. He stopped and floated there, staring at the empty space. Grinning and stretching, he said, "Must've been just too fast for em ta keep up."

"Poor Wheeler," a cold voice said behind him. "Not only an imbecile, but completely delusional."

Joey whipped around and glared into Kaiba's blue eyes. "You're one ta talk," he snapped back. "You're so nuts dat you think just because you've got a buncha yen and your own company means you've got some sorta special right ta go around and treat everyone not as powerful as ya like dey're DIRT!"

"Wheeler, I've never thought of you as dirt," Kaiba replied. "Only a dog, a monkey, and a complete idiot who thinks far too highly of himself just because he's a third place duelist."

"Said de second place guy who got beaten outta first by a complete newcomer ta de game," Joey shot back.

"Stupid mutt."

"SNOBBY BRAT!"

The two didn't notice beams of light blue magic soar up behind the both of them. They smashed into their backs and sent them crashing into one another, knocking them out cold.

As the two fell down to the ground, the Reaper and his four new servants soared up above them. Tristan and Bakura's bodies quickly swooped down and caught them before they crashed, making sure they still remained in near perfect condition for their master.

The Reaper and Yuri and Téa's bodies soared down before the two. Reaper looked down at the unconscious Joey and Kaiba, then back up at the servants. "Place them on the ground."

"Yes, master." The two laid the unconscious heroes down and stepped back to their master's side.

The Reaper rose his scythe up in the air and brought it down through their stomachs, forming the same jagged white lines as before. The lines soared up and formed themselves back into white orbs which hovered before him.

"Just two more to go," The Reaper said with a smile in his voice. He lowered the hood of his cloak towards the orbs.

"NOT SO FAST!"

The Reaper looked up-just in time to see beams of blue and gold magic blast out to him and slam him right in the chest, sending him spinning through the air.

His four servants were about to go and catch him when Pharaoh and Spencer jumped up and let them beams that had been following them catch the mere shells of their friends instead, also sending them flying backwards.

Spencer leapt forward and grabbed the two souls which The Reaper had been about to suck up. Pharaoh then snapped his fingers and transformed into a shower of blue sparks which swirled around Spencer, Joey, and Kaiba, turned them into sparks as well, and went soaring up and off into the distance.

* * *

A few minutes later, the blue sparks came swirling down through the roof of the abandoned warehouse by the Domino Docks, landed on the floor, and transformed back into four human beings. Spencer looked down at the two bodies by his feet and commented, "Well, Round One was a complete bust."

"Quickly, Spencer," Pharaoh told him. "We must return their souls to their bodies so that we can go back and save the others."

"Right," Spencer nodded. He took the two soul orbs and gently pressed one each back into the bodies before him. Their outlines glowed with soft, white light for a moment, then slowly faded away.

* * *

Joey thought it was strange, being nothing but a pure soul. For a few moments, it felt as though he was everywhere all at once, connected to all parts of the universe and even the ones beyond them.

Then, suddenly, he felt himself return into a physical being, the connection slowly fading away until all he was connected to was pretty much himself. He groaned as he slowly opened his eyes, still feeling the pain where he'd collided directly into Kaiba.

Pharaoh and Spencer were gazing down at him with concern in their eyes. "Are you all right?" Pharaoh asked.

"Uhh…yeah, I think so…" he said, rubbing his nose gently. He pointed at it and asked, "Spencer, man, could you heal dis for me, please?"

The two of them stared down at him with complete shock in their eyes. "Did you just ask me to heal you?" Spencer said in disbelief.

Joey blinked. "Uh, yes."

"Um…are you certain that you're all right, Kaiba?" Pharaoh asked.

Joey bolted upwards. "What did you just call me?!" he cried out.

Pharaoh blinked. "I called you Kaiba."

"Is dat some kind of a sick joke?!"

"What?" Pharaoh asked, looking very confused.

"Man, please-do not _ever _refer ta me as dat selfish, stuck up, bratty liddle C.E.O. Dat's even worst dan him callin' me a mutt."

Spencer's jaw dropped. Pharaoh barely managed to get out, "…Joey?"

"Yeah?" He glanced back and forth at their confused faces and asked, "Why are you guys lookin' at me like dat?"

Spencer slapped a hand against his forehead and murmured, "Oh dear gods…I've screwed up big time…"

"Joey…" Pharaoh said hesitantly. "Have you…been listening to your own voice?"

"Whaddya mean, have I been listenin' ta my own-" He froze.

His voice sounded cold and sort of raspy-almost like…

He looked down at himself and saw a blue duster with a light green shirt and pants and brown shoes. Slowly, he reached up, pulled down his bangs a little and glanced at them. Instead of a honey blond, they were a deep, dark brown.

"No..." he said in horror. "No, no, no…"

He slowly looked down beside him and stared down at…his own body. He jumped backwards in shock. "Oh my…" He slowly looked back up at the other two and managed to stutter out, "I…I'm Kaiba?"

Pharaoh nodded. Spencer sheepishly pressed his index fingers together and said, "Sorry, Joe."

He stared at them with his mouth wide open for a moment. Finally, he said: "I was wrong-today just got much, much, much, much worse."


	4. Chapter Three: Wrong Bodies

Chapter Three: Wrong Bodies

Figuring that Kaiba should be awoken and made aware of the mix-up, Pharaoh gently shook Joey's body's shoulder and murmured, "Kaiba, please, wake up."

He paused, however, when he heard: "Ow…ow…ow…"

He looked back to see Spencer staring at Joey in disbelief as he used Kaiba's hand to continuously pinch himself up and down his arm. "Kai-erm, Joey, what are you doing?" Pharaoh asked.

Joey looked up and replied, "I'm tryin' ta wake myself up from dis nightmare already!" He gave himself another pinch and let out another "Ow."

"Joey, I'm pretty sure Kaiba wouldn't be too happy about you hurting his body like that," Spencer said.

"Ey, don't blame me for believin' dat I might just be havin' de worst dream of my life!" Joey cried. "And besides, it's not like I'd ever be able to lay my hands on him in any odder way."

Spencer stared at him.

"What?"

"I'm sorry, but it's really weird hearing your accent come out of Kaiba's mouth," he replied.

Joey groaned. "Aw, man, please don't remind me dat I've become de brat," he said, slapping one hand to his forehead.

At that moment, Joey's body slowly started to stir. Pharaoh looked up at 'Kaiba' and said, "You should perhaps go and stand behind Kaiba so that he won't get a terrible shock and pass out on us."

Joey sadly walked around Pharaoh and 'himself' and stood a bit far off behind them, arms folded and eyes narrowed angrily.

"Wow, you've really got Kaiba's look down pat," Spencer grinned at him.

"Oh, shut up!" he yelled back.

* * *

Kaiba slowly opened his eyes and looked up at Pharaoh kneeling next to him. "Are you all right?" he asked, extending a hand out towards him.

He slapped it away and sat up. "I'm fine, and I can take care of myself, thank you," he snapped.

Spencer rolled his eyes and said, "Yep, that's Kaiba, all right."

As he gently rubbed his nose, he glanced around and noticed they were in the abandoned warehouse. "What are we doing here?" he asked. "I thought that by now I would've been made into another one of the Reaper's slaves thanks to that stupid mutt."

Spencer grinned sheepishly at him. "Funny story behind that, actually…"

"You were about to become the Reaper's servants, yes, but Spencer and I were able to get your souls back before he could absorb them," Pharaoh explained. "We then brought you over here so that we could place you back into your bodies without disturbance."

"But…" Spencer paused, pressing his index fingers together. "After that a sort of 'good news, bad news' thing happened."

"What in the world are you talking about?" Kaiba glared at him.

"Wellll…good news, we got you two back into physical beings…bad news…" Spencer looked away. "Not exactly in the right ones."

Kaiba's eyes widened. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You haven't been listening to your own voice either, have you," Pharaoh commented.

"Listening to my own-" His eyes opened wide and he clapped a hand over his mouth. Save for the accent, he sounded exactly like…

Slowly, he looked down at himself and saw he was wearing a T-shirt, green jacket, and blue jeans. A lock of hair fell over his eyes, and instead of a dark brown, it was a honey blonde. He pulled his hand off of his mouth and cried, "You put me in _Wheeler's _body?!"

"Sorry, bro…" Spencer murmured.

"And where exactly is my body, might I ask?!" he snapped.

From behind him, an eerily familiar voice spoke: "Behind you, rich boy."

He looked behind him and stared in horror up at his body, which smiled sweetly at him and waved. "Hi, Kaiba," it said.

Kaiba let it sink in for a moment that his body was currently occupied by the 'mutt'. He then jumped up, dashed over to 'himself', and grabbed his shirt collar. Lifting 'himself' up in the air, he screamed, "GIVE ME BACK MY BODY!"

"Hey, man, believe me, if I could I definitely would!" Joey shot back. "Ya think I actually wanna be your uncarin', snobby self?!"

"You're getting the far better end of the deal!" Kaiba cried. "You have my company, my powers, my wealth-and all I have is your idiotic, glutton-like self!"

Joey's eyes opened wide. He clenched his hand into a fist, pulled it back, and screamed out, "WHY I OUGHTA-"

"Go ahead, harm me," Kaiba glared at him. "But it's your own self that's going to feel the pain later."

Joey froze. He lowered his fist and groaned, "Man, dis is so not cool…now I'm stuck lookin' like you an I can't do a ting about it…and wouldja please put me down?!"

Kaiba slowly lowered 'himself' to the ground and let go of his shirt collar. "Look, Wheeler," he said, folding his arms, "I hate this just about as much as you do, but instead of just standing here and moaning about it, we should go out, thrash that Reaper psycho, and make him change us back." He paused. "And what's wrong with the way that I look?"

"Wouldja like me ta get my list?" Joey shot back.

"All right, that's enough," Spencer yelled out before the two could start arguing again. "C'mon, let's go and find the others before they can find us."

At that moment, the doors to the warehouse suddenly slammed open. The four looked towards it and saw the Reaper standing there with two of his new servants each flanking the sides of him.

"Too late," Joey commented.

"Wonderful…" Kaiba muttered.

Spencer looked back at the two and murmured to Pharaoh, "This should be interesting…"


	5. Chapter Four: How Does This Work?

Chapter Four: How Does This Work?

Spencer released his staff once more and Pharaoh let his outline glow with blue magic. Kaiba reached down into his shirt to pull out his Blue Eyes essence stone…and couldn't find it.

"Where is my-" he looked down and caught a glimpse of his green jacket and blonde bangs out of the corners of his eyes. "Oh, great…" he muttered. "I don't have it because it's not 'mine'!"

Joey, meanwhile, held out his hands and attempted to shift their skin into diamonds, but, of course, he couldn't do it. "What de-why aren't my powers workin'?!" he cried.

Kaiba looked back at him in anger. "Because they're not your powers anymore, Wheeler-they're mine." He reached down behind 'his' shirt, grabbed the string the essence stone hung on, and pulled it upwards so Joey could see it. "_This_ is your power."

Joey took the stone in his hand and stared down at it. "So, uh…how do ya work dis ting?"

"You don't know?!" Kaiba cried in disbelief. "I've used it plenty of times in battle and you've never seen how I use it?!"

"Like I cared about how ya used your powers!" Joey shot back.

"LOOK OUT!"

Joey and Kaiba looked forward just in time to see beams of orange, pink, grey, and light blue magic heading straight towards them. The two jumped away from each other and onto the ground just in time for the beams to sail past them and crash into a pile of crates right behind them.

The Reaper's four new servants prepared to fire out some more beams, but Pharaoh quickly put up a force field wall before the other four heroes and Spencer prepared to fire out some gold beams in retaliation.

Kaiba sat up and glared angrily at Joey. "I cannot believe you," he said. "There's only one very simplistic phrase you need to know to conjure up the stone's powers, and even after hearing it many times, you don't know what it is? You're such an idiot."

"Okay, if you're so great, den show me how ya use my powers!" Joey shot back at him.

Glaring, Kaiba held out his hands before him and attempted to focus on using the shape-shifting ability. "This should be simple," he muttered. "I doubt it's any different from using my own special ability…"

Joey watched as 'his self' shut his eyes and winced them together tightly in concentration. As time went by, Kaiba winced and murmured, "Come on now…transform into some kind of metal already…"

Joey grinned. "Havin' trouble usin' someting dat's so easy ta work?" he said with false shock in his voice. "An you said _I _was an idiot."

Kaiba opened his eyes and folded his arms. "Okay, you far more brilliant young man-show me how to use my ability to control electricity."

"Could you two hurry up already?!" Spencer cried out as he fired another beam of magic out to counter one fired b_y _Yuri's body. "We can't hide behind the force field forever!"

Joey rose up his hands, shut his eyes, and looked towards the ceiling. "Shouldn't be too hard," he said. "Dere's electricity pretty much everywhere, right? So if ya just call it in some way from somewhere an send it down…"

After a few moments, he let out a roar and flung his arms down to the ground. A huge bolt of lightning came crashing down right in between Spencer and Pharaoh, sending the two of them flying backwards onto the ground and knocking them out cold. With Pharaoh out, the force field went away, leaving nothing between the Reaper and his servants and the other four heroes.

Joey looked down at the sprawled out Pharaoh and Spencer in horror. Kaiba rolled his eyes and said, "Nice going, Wheeler."

"Thank you, child," The Reaper said with a smile in his voice. "You've just helped to make my job quite a lot easier." He started floating towards Spencer and Pharaoh.

Joey looked at Kaiba and said, "Please tell me ya know how ta use my magic, at least-an I swear ta god, if you feed me some more of 'dere's no such ting as magic' bull, you don't even wanna know what I'll do ta your body."

Kaiba snarled, shut his eyes, and focused. A few moments later, his outline glowed with green magic. He opened his eyes and said, "Oh, wonderful-_this _is the power which I'm actually able to use…"

Joey quickly focused within him and let his outline glow with white magic. Right as the Reaper was floating above Spencer and Pharaoh, the two of them held out their hands and fired out beams of green and white which struck him head on and sent him flying backwards.

Before he or his servants could retaliate, the two quickly transformed into showers of green and white sparks, soared up to Spencer and Pharaoh and did the same to them, and went flying up through the roof of the warehouse.

As Reaper got up from the ground, Yuri's body informed him, "Master, the others have run away."

"It doesn't matter," Reaper hissed out. "We'll simply go and find them once more…and this next time, the four of them won't nearly be as lucky…"


	6. Chapter Five: Truce

Chapter Five: Truce

The showers of green and white sparks soared over the skies of Domino, searching for someplace to land. Finally, the domed top of the Kaiba Corp building came into view. The two went swooping down onto the flattened area at the top of the place, and with the sound of two snaps, transformed back into Kaiba, Joey, and the unconscious Pharaoh and Spencer.

As Joey knelt down and gently shook Pharaoh on the shoulders, murmuring, "Wake up, man, wake up…" Kaiba folded his arms and said angrily to Joey, "Excellent job of nearly getting two more people reaped of their souls, Wheeler."

Joey looked up at him and replied, "Well, maybe if you'd actually told me _how _ta use your powers, den all of dis would never ave happened!"

"I shouldn't even have needed to tell you!" Kaiba shot back. "Using them should have come easily!"

Joey stood up and glared directly into his own brown eyes. "Kaiba, of course dey're easy ta use to ya," he snarled. "DEY'RE YOUR OWN POWERS! YOU JUST CAN'T GET DAT IT MIGHT ACTUALLY NOT BE LIKE EATIN' OUT'VE A TUBE BECAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE ANY SYMPATHY FOR ANYBODY ELSE WHATSOEVER!"

"Wheeler, in my line of work, to have sympathy is to have weakness," Kaiba replied coolly. "You have to be remorseless about taking what's rightfully yours or else the others in your line of work are simply going to walk all over you."

"Oh, so dat's why dis company a yours does so friggin' well-because you don't let yourself give a hoot about anyone or anyting but yourself." Turning back to Pharaoh and Spencer, he added, "Whoever owned dis ting before ya would be so proud ta know dat you're doin' a great job of followin' in deir footsteps."

Joey suddenly felt a blow to the back of his head which sent him slamming face-first to the ground. He lay their dazed and confused for a few moments, then slowly lifted himself up into a kneeling position and looked behind him.

Kaiba was standing there with an extremely angry look on his face. His hands were clenched into fists, and he was breathing heavily through clenched teeth. "You can call me a brat, a snob, a rich kid-I've heard it all before," he almost whispered. "But don't you _dare_ accuse me of following in the footsteps of my good-for-nothing stepfather!"

He turned around, folded his arms, and angrily murmured, "Stupid mutt…"

Joey stared up at him in shock for a moment. Finally, he stood up and asked, "Your stepfather?"

Kaiba turned around and snapped at him, "Yes, my adoptive stepfather. The baka took me in as his successor, forced me to work for hours on end until I was dead tired and couldn't even think straight, and wouldn't think twice about hurting me until I was finally able to take the corporation away from him."

"Oh…" Joey said, not quite sure what to say. "Dat's…terrible. Why would you just let him do that to ya?"

Kaiba looked down at the ground. "For Mokuba's sake," he murmured. "Our parents died years ago and the two of us ended up in an orphanage where all we pretty much had was each other. I didn't want Mokuba to go through the rest of his life in someplace like that; I wanted him to have much, much more, possibly even more than I could provide. And if that meant I had to go through such torture…well, then, so be it."

Joey couldn't believe what he was hearing. _He practically sacrificed himself just so his brodder could get a bedder life? _he thought. _Whoa…dat almost makes him actually…human._

After staring at the back of his head for a few moments, he finally said, "Ey, at least yours actually gave ya a company an millions a yen. When my parents got divorced, all my dad gave me afterwards was a room in some liddle apartment for us and a heckuva lotta insults an blows, especially after he drank stuff dat certainly wasn't juice."

Kaiba looked back at him. "Oh," he said. "That…sounds equally 'pleasant'."

Joey rolled his eyes. "Yeah, it is," he agreed. "Some parents really weren't meant ta be parents, huh."

"No, not at all," Kaiba replied.

There was a long pause. Finally, Joey sighed and said, "Look, Kaiba…I think you're a jerk, you think I'm a moron, and both of us think life would be better if de odder guy would drop off de face of de earth. But I don't know squat about runnin' a company and you don't even know where de heck my apartment is, so…" He held out one hand. "How about de two of us call a truce? You help me learn how ta use de essence stone an lightnin', I teach ya how ta shape-shift, and both of us go wit de odders ta beat up dat Reaper creep an make him switch us back to our own bods. Whaddya say?"

Kaiba turned around and stared down at the outstretched hand. After a few moments of consideration and hesitation, he finally reached out and shook it. "Fine. Truce."

"Holy snap."

Joey whipped around to see a stunned Spencer and a satisfied Pharaoh standing behind them. "How long have you two been up?!" he cried out.

"Since you were beaten onto the ground for saying that Kaiba was similar to his stepfather," Pharaoh responded. "We would have informed you earlier, but we wanted to see if somehow you two could come to some sort of temporary agreement to work together on your own."

"I was thinking that would only happen if the world was going to end, but…well, like I said, holy snap," Spencer added. He looked back and forth at the two of them. "I'm a bit confused, though…" He pointed at Kaiba. "You just went and did what you felt like before even thinking about it…" He glanced at Joey. "And you'rethe one who initiated the truce…I mean, it fits your physical forms, but certainly not who you two actually are…what made you do such things?"

Joey blinked. "I dunno…it just seemed right ta me, for some reason."

Kaiba cringed. "Oh, wonderful…why _did _I do that to my own self?"

"Perhaps a bit of each other's mentality has spread over from the minds of the bodies you currently possess," Pharaoh suggested.

Kaiba was stunned and Joey's eyes widened with horror. "What?!"

"Oh, chill out," Spencer rolled his eyes. "It's not like it'll go right to your souls. You'll only have it while you're actually 'Kaiba' and 'Joey'."

Joey turned back to Kaiba and said, "Okay, it's time ta learn about each odder's powers."

"Most definitely," Kaiba quickly agreed.


	7. Chapter Six: No Need to Fear the Reaper

Chapter Six: No Need to Fear the Reaper

About half an hour later, Pharaoh, Spencer, Kaiba, and Joey were soaring through the air, with Spencer using his sensing powers to find the others. Kaiba looked at Joey and asked, "Let's go over this once more-how do you use my Blue Eyes essence stone, Wheeler?"

"Yep, just hold it in my hand an say, 'Essence of de Blue Eyes, come forth'. After dat, everyting else pretty much just comes naturally." He paused. "What about de lightning ting, dough…I know how ta conjure it, but when I did dat…erm, well, we won't talk about dat again."

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "No, we won't. If you still have issues with controlling lightning from the outside, then for everyone's sake, don't use it in that way," he said. "Just bring it out from within. It's by far easier to use it when it's an actual part of you."

"An where exactly do I get it from within me?" Joey asked.

Kaiba considered it for a moment, then replied, "It's from a sort of energetic feeling you've got inside of your chest. Like when you're going up on that big roller coaster at the carnival right after you've eaten all of the cotton candy you can stomach." He froze. "Wait-what did I just say?!"

Joey grinned. "Dat must be my mentality kickin' in again," he replied.

Kaiba slapped one hand to his forehead. "This had _better_ not stay with me once I go back to my own body."

Joey rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, I'm sure it'd never be able to survive in ya. Anyway, do ya know how ta shape-shift now?"

Kaiba nodded and shut his eyes. "Simply imagine your body transforming into a certain kind of stone or metal, attempt to feel yourself becoming as hard as rock, and…"

His hands transformed into diamonds which glistened in the moonlight. He opened his eyes, grinned down at the diamonds, and pumped one fist into the air. "Oh yeah!" He then froze again and quickly put it down. "I mean, excellent."

At that moment, the heroes caught glimpse of their enslaved friends and Reaper down in an alleyway. They'd cornered a few thugs who'd been hanging around that night, hoping to jump anybody else who was out way too late. However, they'd certainly been no match for the Reaper's slaves, and now they were pressed up against a brick wall at the end, staring in horror at what appeared to be the Grim Reaper and some glowing children with empty eyes.

"You are not as strong as you would seem," Reaper hissed, "but you can still be sufficient little slaves for my purposes." He rose his scythe up above them, making the thugs try to recoil back.

"Hey you!"

The Reaper whipped around to see the four heroes floating down to the ground before him. The distraction gave the thugs the opportunity to get up and dart past the others and out of sight."Why don't you actually pick on someone who could fight back?" Joey called out to him.

The Reaper laughed. "You're one to talk," he hissed. "You aren't even aware of how to use your own powers."

Joey pulled out the Blue Eyes essence stone. "Wanna bet?" he asked. Holding the stone out before him, he cried, "Essence of de Blue Eyes, come forth!"

The stone sent a beam of blue and white light up into him, making his entire being glow with the same shade. Once the glow faded away, the Blue Eyes had become a part of him, granting him white dragon wings, shiny white, tough as nails skin, and razor sharp fangs and claws. Joey looked down at his hands in shock and said, "Whoa…"

The Reaper was not impressed. He looked over at Tristan's body and said, "Destroy him."

"Yes, master." He held out one hand and fired a beam of orange magic out at 'Kaiba'.

Joey yelped as he suddenly soared up into the air, wings flapping with great intensity. As the beams stashed into where he'd been standing, he looked down and cried, "Geez, it's like dis ting has a mind of its own!"

Tristan prepared to fire another beam up at him. Joey brought his hands together and slowly formed an orb of white lightning in between them. "Sorry, Tristan, man," he said, "but dis is for your own good."

As the orange beam of magic came towards him, he flung the white lightning orb down at it. The orb absorbed up the beam as the two collided and went flying all the way down into Tristan's stomach. The blast and the electrical shock that followed sent him to the ground. Before he could get up, jagged lightning bolts shot out of the orb and wrapped themselves around him, keeping him from moving at all.

Joey looked down at the squirming Tristan and nodded. "One down, tree ta go."

Suddenly, an ear-piercing scream came rushing right towards him. He slapped his hands over his ears and winced. "What de-dat's ten times louder dan usual!" he cried.

Kaiba looked at Téa's body, which was sending up a siren shriek to 'himself', then up at the nearly frozen Joey. "Oh, great…dragons must have exceptionally good hearing…" he murmured. "And I just have to find out about it _now…_"

Thinking quickly, he held out one hand and sent a ray of green magic blasting Téa down to the ground. He dashed over to her and, before she could get up, quickly pinned her to the ground and covered up her mouth with his hand.

Téa's body angrily let out a muffled siren shriek which was still pretty loud, making him wince. "There must be some way to make her stop…" he murmured.

An idea suddenly came to him. He shut his eyes and focused.

Kaiba felt the skin underneath his hand suddenly turn hard. The siren shriek came to an abrupt halt. When he removed the hand, he saw that Téa's mouth had been turned to gold, preventing her from letting out even a tiny whimper. He then used rays of green magic to wrap themselves around her wrists and keep her where she lay.

He stood up and turned around to see 'himself' staring in shock. "I can make other stuff inta stone, too?"he said in disbelief. "Huh. I'll hafta try dat sometime."

While they were dealing with Tristan and Téa, Pharaoh had trapped Bakura in a dome-shaped force field and, to save Yugi any major pain from having to do so, Spencer had zapped Yuri down and used his magic to tie him to the alley wall. Now the four turned and focused their attention on The Reaper.

Strangely calm for one who'd just lost his servants, The Reaper let out a small, whooshing noise. Dozens of white orbs came flying out from the darkness in his hood and completely surrounded him like a glittering dome. "You cannot hurt me, you fools," Reaper laughed. "If you dare to fire at me, then you run the risk of destroying some poor, innocent souls-possibly even your friends themselves."

Pharaoh, Spencer, and Joey stared at the souls in horror. Kaiba, however, thought quickly and came up with a plan. He stepped behind the other three and hissed into their ears, "Distract him for a moment."

As Spencer quickly fired a retort to Reaper's comment ('Hiding behind a whole bunch of souls to save your own hide? That seems a bit cowardly to me, Reaper.'), Kaiba transformed his hand into diamond and sent it down into the ground. He continued extending the diamond through the dirt beneath the gravel until he was certain he'd come right underneath the Reaper. Quietly, he pushed the diamond up and saw it poke out of the ground beneath him. He glanced up and hissed, "Wheeler, down here."

Joey looked down and knelt beside him. Kaiba pulled his diamond hand back and returned it to a normal state. He pointed down into the hole and said, "Fire."

"Gotcha." He poked his hand down into the hole and sent a jagged bolt of white lightning into it. The lightning seared through the tunnel formed, up through the opening at the end, and directly through The Reaper's cloak.

The Reaper screamed out in horror as electricity ran through every fiber of his being, searing the ends of his cloak to a near crisp. The shock sent him reeling to the ground, his scythe simply going through an open space between the souls surrounding him, and knocked him out cold in seconds flat.

Joey let the electricity stop, stood up, and said, "Sorry, Reaper, but we weren't ready just yet ta meet our maker."


	8. Chapter Seven: Souls Returned

Chapter Seven: Souls Returned

Spencer walked over to the Reaper and gently pulled his scythe out from underneath the soul barrier. He rose the scythe up above the Reaper and said, "Let's see how much you like this,creep."

He brought the scythe down and ran it through the Reaper's back, forming another glowing, jagged white line. The white line came up and formed itself into an orb which Spencer caught in his hand. He tucked it under his arm and looked down at the Reaper. "Get up."

The Reaper got to his feet. Spencer commanded him, "Release each and every single soul you've captured and make sure they all get back to the bodies they belong to."

"Yes, master," the Reaper hissed. He held out his hands towards the soul field surrounding him and let them glow with black magic. One by one, the various souls surrounding him either went soaring up into the air, heading back towards the original portal which would lead them back to the Dimension of the Gods, or went to the four heroes and slowly absorbed themselves into them.

Joey and Kaiba suddenly collapsed onto the ground as white orbs went flying out through their stomachs. The orbs hovered above the two for a moment, then switched their places and went down into the opposite body.

Tristan, Téa, Bakura, and Yuri blinked as their eyes slowly went from pure white back to their original shades. All four of them stared in shock at their prisons or binds.

"What the heck happened here?!" Tristan cried as he struggled to get out of the lightning binding him.

"I assume this meant we got reaped," Yuri said, glancing at his binds of gold magic.

Pharaoh let down the force field around Bakura and Spencer snapped the binds around Yuri away, letting him jump down to the ground. Spencer then looked at Tristan and Téa on the ground and said, "Hold on, you guys-your captors should wake up pretty soon."

Joey slowly opened his eyes. He sat up and rubbed his head where he'd fallen. "Ow, geez…couldn't we ave moved ta some softer place ta land?" He froze. "Dat's…my voice…"

Joey looked down at himself, then raised a hand to his face and let it transform into pure diamond. He grinned and pumped the diamond fist into the air. "Yes! Joey's back, man!" he cheered.

Kaiba stirred and slid his eyes open. He quickly sat up and looked down at himself, then looked behind him at his Blue Eyes wings and flapped them a little. Heaving a sigh of relief, he said, "Thank god…"

Tristan looked from Joey to Kaiba and back to Joey. "Uh, are we missing something here?"

"We'll explain what occurred later," Pharaoh assured him.

Joey walked over to Téa and placed his hand over her mouth. He focused on his shape-shifting power and sent it down to her, transforming her mouth from stone back to flesh and blood. He took the hand off and snapped the binds around her away, saying, "Sorry about dat. Aldough technically it wasn't me who did it, but…"

Kaiba, meanwhile, snapped away the lightning around Tristan. Once he was free, Kaiba glowed with blue and white light and let the essence within him return to his stone. Tristan jumped to his feet and cried, "What was with the lightning?! That stuff was practically burning!"

"Don't blame me," Kaiba replied. "It was Wheeler who did it."

"HEY!" Joey yelled at him.

"Okay, then," Spencer said loudly before Joey and Kaiba could get at it again. "Thank you all so much not only for helping catch The Reaper, but also for discovering a few little flaws in our prison in Kingrah. After this, we're going to even place magical barriers in between each and every single one of the floors _and _make sure the guards are fully equipped with possession, mind control, and soul reaping amulets so that no one will ever be able to pull a stunt like this guy did again." He zapped up a custom portal box and placed it onto the ground. With the zap of a spark into the top, a portal appeared leading directly to the Bastet Prison.

Spencer turned to The Reaper and said, smiling sweetly, "C'mon, man, let's take you back to that nice, cold prison cell."

"Yes, master." The Reaper floated through the portal with Spencer following after him, calling out over his shoulder, "See you next time, _chicos_." Once they had returned to their world, the portal snapped shut behind them.

Joey let out a loud yawn. "Hokay, dat was loads a fun," he said sarcastically as they started walking down the alleyway, "but now I just wanna go home, get some sleep, an forget dat dis crazy ting ever happened."

"For once in my life, I will be in complete agreement with the mutt," Kaiba said.

Joey whipped around and snapped, "EY! AFTER ALL WE DID YOU'RE STILL CALLIN' ME A MUTT?!"

Kaiba shook his head. "Sorry, Wheeler, but you're pretty much almost always going to be an underdog to me."

Tristan held Joey back from attacking him as Kaiba walked past them, turned the corner of the alley, and vanished. "Man, I just can't stand dat brat!" he cried out. He thought for a moment, then added, "But…maybe he's not as totally cold an heartless as I tought."

Everyone but Pharaoh stared at him in shock. "Did you just say something nice about Kaiba?" he asked as he let go of his friend and everyone continued down the alley. "Someone please pinch me because either I'm dreaming or the weirdest thing in my entire life just happened."

Pharaoh smiled at him. "Much stranger things have actually occurred, Tristan," he said. "Wait until you find out about what happened while you were gone."

With that, the six of them turned the corner and returned to their normal lives…for the time being.


End file.
